"IS ANYBODY PAYING ATTENTION?" The mindful view of an educated Buddhist blogger who uses critical thinking, evidence, facts, and investigation to come up with his opinions instead of fear based ideologies.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

OK, there really isn't a real debate over illegal aliens because the only people who actually make the law who talk about it are LYING. As long as this state is run by the GOP it will NOT EVER CHANGE and even though the Latino population is in the majority here, they are either afraid or too lazy to vote. They aren't the only ones too lazy to vote. In 2010, when President Obama was first looking that the second year his first term, voted in by YOUNG PEOPLE who didn't understand how laws are made. Those same young people didn't get off their asses and vote during the midterms because they didn't realize that voting for a progressive president only works when you vote for progressive legislators AS WELL. First, I love being the one to say this time, Arizona is NOT the craziest state in the United States. They are crazy but that is because the voters here sit on their asses. Some of the laws and the subsequent LAW MAKERS who legislated that nonsense ARE or WERE CRAZY. Why? Because Arizonans voted a bunch of morons into office because of their campaign promises on issues which we now know are non-issues? Only partially, the main reason is that the people who don't want crazy running the state, didn't bother to go vote. That begs the question, where is the real debate on "Immigration"? Which also begs to be answered, "Only in an election year and it is only another non-issue that politicians can't do anything about without being an IDIOT." Another thing is, this question: "When did breaking the law become acceptable?" Activists have done that for ages, but only when the law was so unfair that they knew they would get a group of fans who wouldn't let them stay in jail. For instance, the Civil Rights movement and the Freedom Marchers who went to jail, had dogs and firehouses turned on them, some of them were hanged, but they knew they were right and finally the country caved. They broke NO LAWS or even presented a violent defense against these atrocities, knowing that someday, their ancestors wouldn't have to live in the anti-humane manner most of them had been treated like. Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) used to go to jail every year because the state of Massachusetts wouldn't abolish slavery. He was the first American active tax strike activist towards his own government. He was also the local school teacher. Every year the townspeople would pay his taxes, he would be released from jail, and he would yell at them for paying the taxes, asking them in earnest, "Don't you realize that I am trying to make a statement?" He wrote that he found it humorous that he was being fed, clothed, and housed in a stone cubicle, all paid for by other people's taxes, for not being responsible enough to pay HIS taxes. He was protesting against something that was unfair and was willing to suffer for it. Eventually the majority agreed and slavery was abolished but that was a long while and a civil war afterwards. The solution? When you see something that is unfair, change the law. How do you do that? Write to your politicians and tell them to change it. If they don't change it, elect new politicians when their term is over OR just recall them. BUT, if you are smart, you will make sure you are asking for something that is doable and not just some whiny one issue problem that you have championed and that isn't a matter of it being a political hoax that some politicians toss around at election time, like "family values" and "right to life", that those same politicians never really do anything about but use to get elected every end of their term. I would also hasten to mention that in ANY country in the world, if you show up a refugee, then, they have laws and departments to deal with you when you are fleeing oppression or torture. But, if you try to illegally enter without permission and a visa, you are thrown in jail, if you live through the arrest by the border patrol. I mention that last part because if you drive past the border towns in Mexico, which most people don't, they will see that there is a checkpoint guarded by the Federales. IF you don't have a visa, they will tell you to turn around. If you resist they just kill you. Yes, shoot you to death. BUT, when they escape into our country illegally, some have started saying because some poet named Emma Lazarus wrote a poem entitled the "Other Colossus" about the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island that was auctioned off merely to pay for the stand the plaque, sanctioned by the "Arts Commission" of New York could be placed on the statue. In other words, it wasn't even legally put there by anyone but the Art Commission and has NOTHING TO DO WITH United Stated immigration laws, SO STOP BRINGING IT UP AS AN EXCUSE TO BREAK THE LAW. This law, I might add is something that we have developed whole departments to enforce (ICE, Homeland Security, Customs and Immigration, etc.). NOW, when Joe Arpaio enforces our immigration laws, he isn't being an asshole, he is being a sheriff. He is enforcing the laws of Arizona that Arizona citizens seem to approve of because they voted for the people who wrote them. IF THEY DON'T LIKE THE LAW, THEY NEED TO HAVE IT CHANGED, YOU DON'T JUST BITCH AT THE GUY THAT YOU HIRED, WHOSE JOB IT IS TO ENFORCE THE LAW. AND WHEN IT COMES TO ILLEGAL ALIENS, They are NOT immigrants. Immigrants MIGRATE into other countries through the use of immigration laws and application for citizenship. And the media magic rationalizing term some use (made up by lawyers for the press), UNDOCUMENTED, is nonsense. They didn't lose their paperwork. They were born in undesirable conditions and thought they would be better off illegally crossing into the United States. Most of them, despite the rhetoric of most politicians and slave labor traffickers, don't want to become American citizens, they just want to work or steal here and then send the money home, tax free. For those of you who want to argue that YOU BELIEVE they are paying income taxes, I have two things to say, beyond just the fact that you are GULLIBLE.A) I have talked to many of them and they are the ones who don't care about laws. They were raised in a land where whatever you want to do ILLEGAL is okay as long as you pay the police before you break the law. So they expect to act the same way here. THEY KNEW THEY WERE COMMITTING AN INTERNATIONAL FELONY WHEN THEY CAME HERE AND DECIDED TO BE A FELON. To those of you want that here, let them live in your house, in your neighborhood, etc. for two weeks and I guarantee most of you will change your minds.B) Any of them could have applied for immigration status and become citizens legally. Ronald Reagan even provided a gateway for amnesty for hundreds of thousands (who would have been able to help bring more in) and they REFUSED to go the legal route. And the other myths about them wanting to be a citizen: They don't take jobs no one else wants. I have worked in those jobs myself for years (everything from picking fruit to construction in the Arizona) and they take those jobs because they can and they don't get charged income taxes. To do that one has to have a Social Security Number and they can't get one of those without committing Identity Theft, another felony. So, if you want open borders with every low life, drug trafficker, human trafficker, and terrorist walking straight into the U.S. to do more damage on us than we already have, change the law. But I don't think the majority of Americans, given the real circumstances that are laid out by reality and history, are going to go along with it. You aren't the champion of civil and human rights violations, you are the rationalizing agents of Felons. Congratulations, you finally got suckered by someone smarter than you, and they are the illegal trafficking business outlying community. They are the lawyers, the traffickers, and the people (including contractors) who illegally hire these people for shit wages, basically conducting a slave trade. They play both sides of the law so they don't get arrested. They get the most liberal minded part of our society to look the other way on their illegal slave trade and trafficking for that trade, while whining that they are being put upon for providing refuge for these poor "immigrants". They pocket the money, praying every second that you never listen and change the law, because if you did, several things would happen. All the worst elements would come through the border and the people who they are now able to control would legally have to right to work for a decent wage with benefits. Some of the worst elements of our society would move next door to them and they REALLY after all those years of dealing with "those people" don't want that. And the main reason they don't want that, IS ... that it would cut them out of the picture altogether.And YOU aren't being liberal when you ask for amnesty and open borders, you are being a dupe and making real liberals look stupid.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Today a Facebook friend (someone I follow) posted something that I found interesting;

HIS POST:

"...Driving near my home in 108 degree heat with my 16 yr old son, traffic abruptly stopped. In my Avalanche I was able to see over the next car and in the intersection 6-7 cars ahead where a homeless man had fallen and was struggling to get up. He repeatedly fell onto the molten asphalt trying to crawl to the median. People were cursing and blowing their horns as they swerved around him. I passed traffic and then blocked the center lane and exited my truck to help him. A "Scott Roofing" truck did the same from the other direction. We helped him to a shade spot by the Circle K sign and called 911. We were both ridiculed and shamed for our actions. Our society has become perverse in it 's self-centered detachment. He was drunk, dirty terrified and had shit himself. HE WAS A HUMAN BEING AND HE NEEDED HELP. I am grateful, but in tears that my son had to witness such coldheartedness. What the "FUCK" are we becoming?

MY REPLY:

In a country where we fund the killing of thousands for (in my opinion) sport and for a few, profit - in order to dictate policy and religion to people who were obviously getting along without us for centuries, but could use one tenth that money to help people like the man you tried to save, I admit it is disgusting.

(The Flip Side, although I am not rationalizing callousness.)

I also have, from the prospective of someone in the recovery community, seen thousands of people who refuse help. leaving them at the mercy of the weather, the conditions of the street, and the callousness of people who don't care, because they prefer that to living with any form of discipline and rules, some because of addiction to drugs or alcohol, but there is help if they want it. The mentally ill were released from institutions where they would have been forced to live if Ronald Reagan wasn't trying to save face with fiscal conservatives for all his spending. In order for anything to change, we must educate the public but that seems impossible in an environment where the poor and disabled are said to be the problem, as if they decided one day to be a blight on humanity and how much fun it would be to suffer, to mentally absolve our local wealthy people of their responsibility to give back to the community.

Ayn Rand, public lunatic that she was, in truth only a fiction writer who became rich acting like she believed her own fictional fantasy, to audiences who paid to hear her tell them how selfishness was a good thing, would be rejoicing in this time of the ANTI altruistic and PRO greediness era of the actual elite in our society, and to see the all consuming self gratification and greed that has stricken our society.

My suggestion is, don't be disgusted with others, continue to be an example of good will toward man.

We can ALL use the lesson. And in case no one else on earth said it, "Thank You."

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I wanted to post this because so many people don't seem to understand this. A few decades ago, the therapy world tried to start using "appropriate sounding language" for inappropriate actions, as if that makes it okay. My point is that - saying that instead of "blaming someone" that I now "hold them accountable for" the same actions, doesn't change what you are actually doing. Why? Let's look up the word blame:
"...blame [bleym] verb (used with object), blamed, blam·ing.
1. to hold responsible; find fault with; "
In other words, it doesn't matter what language you use, your actions are (speaking louder than words) what people judge your behavior by.
So, back to the point of this post. Today I once again see people acting surprised that "conservatives" are acting 1) selfishly, 2) self centeredly, 3) angrily towards others for no reason, and 4) irrationally. It seems to escape people that selfishness is like a mental condition that grips some people so completely that they are caught in the grips of a complete state of what is easy to describe, DELUSION. Are you with me so far?
You can hear people like that when they are lying to you and themselves, when you confront them, start laughing and then straighten up to give you their best defense line, "Well, you know...", to which we all should be shouting back at the top of our lungs, "NO, I DON'T KNOW THAT AND YOU DON'T EITHER, YOU ARE JUST A SELFISH ASSHOLE!" But, being the type of people who are basing things on rational fair play and not wanting to lower ourselves to their level, we don't confront them. I will explain the solution to this, later.
Now, the therapy world, several decades ago, came up with something that sounded good to someone who was dealing with addiction and alcoholism, that one has a choice to be free of those because it is just a matter of being "IN DENIAL". The actual "Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous" was written by actual alcoholics and a couple doctors who describe the disease as being a physical allergy coupled with a state of DELUSION.
Here we go, follow along here:
A) BEING IN DENIAL islooking at a problem and saying to yourself that, "Yes, that's a problem, but I don't want to face that. I do now want to, nor need to look at that, and I refuse to look at that."BEING IN A STATE OF DELUSION islooking at the problem and not seeing it as a problem (For whatever reason.).
In a state of delusion, you can see the problem as something you want and start believing you need more of the problem or perhaps see the problem as YOUR SOLUTION.
Delusion as I have said many times, as described in the dictionary, is:"de·lu·sion·al [dih-loo-zhuh-nl] adjective 1. having false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions2. maintaining fixed false beliefs even when confronted with facts, usually as a result of mental illness"
So, I contend that someone who is selfish is facing a state of delusion. The problem is that we confuse intelligence or education with being "smarter", so we believe they are lying or just stupid, but they can't be if they have a high IQ and an education, right?
They can still be self deluded or delusional. The fact that some people are allowed to believe that being delusional is okay is OUR FAULT because we let people slide by on the (those inappropriate actions described in appropriate sounding language again) excuses and rationalizations that they make, like the idea that money is free speech (as if money is free) and the oldest bullshit line on the books, "I am entitled to my own opinion".
This is a misnomer. Let me explain why:
The definition of opinion is:
o·pin·ion [uh-pin-yuhn] noun1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.

In other words, OPINION is a belief based on NO FACTS or GROUNDS SUFFICIENT ENOUGH TO PRODUCE CERTAINTY IN AN ANSWER.

Let's look at delusional again, quickly, once more:

" ... maintaining fixed false beliefs even when confronted with facts, usually as a result of mental illness"
And now let's look at someone who thinks their opinion is more important than that big "R" word most of us try to adhere to, REALITY:
"... a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty."

Both are an OPINION "a belief or judgement" based on "grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty" because they are usually wrong and based on either fear, greed, or both and have a way of allowing some people to forgive themselves for being an asshole. I believe the original texts that describe "sins" in the religious books were about "character defects" that one can admit are the problem, IF you haven't become completely delusional about it, which some people are.

So, the next time your neighbor or Uncle Fud, the family conservative, Fox News watching, completely delusional, irrational, antithesis of the word "serene" pokes up his angry head and starts babbling on about something completely delusional, we need to remember NOT TO get angry (I know that is almost impossible) but we must try to do the direct approach and LAUGH right in their face. If you get angry, he will just say you are just like him only have different beliefs, but when you laugh at him, he only has two options. Either he can run away (which will clear your hearing space so you won't have to endure it) or he can go somewhere in shame and look at himself. (IF YOU GET MAD, DELUSIONAL PEOPLE THINK YOU HAVE PROVED THEIR POINT.) If you don't believe me, try yelling at a drunk some time and see how much good that does.

There are people out there who give themselves and other delusional people an excuse to stay in a state of delusion. We need to be the people in the life boats, confronting them without anger.

About Me

I am an Arizona native, born and raised in Phoenix, although I have lived for brief times in other places. I am what one would call a Centrist. I don't believe in radical left or right stances and refuse to let the low information, regressive, right wing people call me "liberal" since that would be left of reality based on opinion, and I believe in facts and research of evidence.